The Norway Bay Golf Course will open for the season this Saturday, for the first time since 2018. One of the new owners, Jodi Armstrong, spoke with CHIP 101.9 about all the work she and her partner John Edelman put into the place since they purchased the local institution in 2021.

Armstrong is originally from the Shawville, but spent the past 30 years living in Ottawa working in marketing. Edelman is originally from Brantford Ont. and served 32 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force as an engineer. Armstrong said that they originally came to the area in search of a cottage, but once they discovered the golf course was for sale, they decided to take the plunge. She said that it was exciting, but also a daunting task as the course hadn’t been open for years.

The 9-hole course was built in the 1930s and was designed by highly-renowned golf course architects Stanley Thompson and Robert Trent Jones. Armstrong said that they did extensive renovations to the greens and the clubhouse as well. During the off-season they opened a depanneur as well as a café, which Armstrong said was due to demand from community members. Their banquet hall, which seats 150 people and has a large wraparound balcony overlooking the course, is also open for bookings.

She explained that while the name of the golf course would be staying the same due to its long history in the area, the rest of the business would now go by the name Astra Estates. Astra is Latin for stars, which Armstrong said were dazzling when first arrived from the city, but it’s also a reference to Edelman’s air force career, as the RCAF’s original motto was “Per Ardua ad Astra” or “Through Adversity to the Stars”.

More information can be found on their website.

The full interview with Armstrong is available below: